In many industrial processes where it is desired to compress a process fluid, the process fluid includes both lower-density and higher-density components, for example, gases and liquids, respectively. Liquids, however, can potentially damage, corrode, reduce the efficiency of, and/or wear on the compression equipment; therefore, it is generally desirable to remove as much of the liquid from the process fluid as possible, prior to compression. This is balanced against avoiding significant increases in materials and operating expenses, along with retaining a sufficient throughput rate. One way to remove such liquid is to channel the process fluid through a density-based separator, such as a rotary separator, thereby separating and expelling the higher-density components from the lower-density components of the process fluid. To achieve a desired separation efficiency, the axial length of rotary separators is typically dictated by the axial velocity of the process fluid, the radial velocity of the liquid that is induced by the rotational motion of the rotary separator, and the radial distance the liquid must travel before reaching the drain. These factors limit the ability to reduce the axial length of these rotary separators and equipment in which the separators may be included. What is needed, therefore, is a rotary separator that can efficiently separate the process fluid at a high axial velocity over a shorter axial distance.